Bron: activewin.com

Jose Barreto van de Microsoft storage divisie bespreekt de verschillende RAID mogelijkheden en de combinatie met de Microsoft iSCSI software target.

http://blogs.technet.com/josebda/archive/2008/05/07/raid-configuration-options-for-wudss-and-the-microsoft-iscsi-software-target.aspx

Bron: bink.nu

Het patchen van virtuele servers gaat grotendeels hetzelfde als bij fysieke servers. Wat doe je echter met virtuele servers die uit staan?

Dit nieuwe Offline Virtual Machine Servicing tool van Microsoft dat nu in beta is gegaan kan hierbij helpen.

Het tool gebruikt hiervoor WSUS 3.0 of MSCCM 2007 en System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007.

http://bink.nu/news/offline-virtual-machine-servicing-tool-beta-program-now-available.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc501231.aspx?SA_CE=VIR-OVMST-BLOG-MAPTEAMBLOG-2008-05-08

Bron: bink.nu

Het server team bespreekt de mogelijkheden tot automatisering van het aanmaken van Performance Monitor en trace logs.

Hiervoor heeft de LOGMAN tool dat enorm krachtig via de command line aangestuurd kan worden.

http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2008/05/13/two-minute-drill-logman-exe.aspx

Bron: Microsoft.com

De Microsoft security bulletins van mei zijn uitgebracht. Het zijn er in totaal 4.

·         MS08-026 - Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word Could Allow Remote Code Execution (951207) - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-026.mspx
Rating: Critical (install now)
Impact: Remote Code Execution (System access)
Affected software: Office 2000 SP3, Office 2003 SP 2 & SP3 en Office 2007 RTM & SP1
Bulletins replaced: MS08-009

·         MS08-027 - Vulnerability in Microsoft Publisher Could Allow Remote Code Execution (951208) - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-027.mspx
Rating: Critical (install now)
Impact: Remote Code Execution (System access)
Affected software: Office 2000 SP3, Office 2003 SP 2 & SP3 en Office 2007 RTM & SP1
Bulletins replaced: MS08-012 en MS07-037

·         MS08-028 – Vulnerability in Microsoft Jet Database Engine Could Allow Remote Code Execution (950749) - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-028.mspx
Rating: Critical (Install now)
Impact: Remote Code Execution (System access)
Affected software: Microsoft Jet 4.0 database on Windows 2000 SP4, XP SP2, Server 2003 SP1
Bulletins replaced: MS04-014

·         MS08-029 – Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Malware Protection Engine Could Allow Denial of Service (952044) - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-029.mspx
Rating: Moderate
Impact: Denial of service
Affected software: Microsoft security products

Bron: blogs.zdnet.com

Microsoft heeft prijzen bekend gemaakt van haar Small Business Server en Essential Business Server (midsize product) 2008 producten.

Beide producten moeten in principe voor het eind van het jaar uitkomen maar voorlopig worden ze nog getest.

Van SBS 2008 is nu duidelijk dat het tot zo’n 80% duurder dan de voorgaande versie zal uitvallen.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1395&tag=nl.e622

Bron: Microsoft.com

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032374607&EventCategory=5&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Bron: Microsoft.com

With the introduction of Windows® Vista™, you can now use Group Policy to centrally manage a greater number of features and component behaviors than you were able to do in Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003. The number of Group Policy settings has increased from approximately 1,800 in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 to approximately 2,500 in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. This gives you more than 700 new policies to help you manage desktops, security, and all other aspects of running your network. This document will help you sort through the new and updated features available in Windows Vista, and it provides a number of best practices to help you deploy Group Policy.

http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/5ae8da2a-878e-48db-a3c1-4be6ac7cf7631033.mspx?mfr=true

Bron: activewin.com

Met Windows Vista (en Server 2008) is het nu voor het eerst goed mogelijk om de instellingen voor je draadloze netwerk via group policies te beheren en te verspreiden. Joesph Davies van Microsoft legt uit hoe dat werkt.

As an administrator, your job would probably be a bit easier if you could centrally configure and distribute wireless network settings to all the computers in your Active Directory network. Fortunately, Windows supports a special Group Policy extension for Computer Configuration that lets you do just that. It’s

called the Wireless Network (IEEE 802.11) Policies extension, supported by computers running Win­dows Vista™, Windows® XP, Windows Server® 2003, and the next version of Windows Server, code-named "Long­horn."

Here’s how it works. Either when joining the domain, or when starting up (and on an ongoing basis after that), these operating systems automatically download the wireless settings in this Group Policy extension and apply them. You can configure wireless policies for a domain-based Group Policy object from the following node in the Group Policy Object Editor snap-in: Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Wireless Network (IEEE 802.11) Policies.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc162468.aspx

Bron: blogs.zdnet.com

Het lijkt erop dat Sebastian Muniz, een onderzoeker bij Core Security Technologies, een rootkit gaat uitbrengen voor Cisco’s IOS. Als dit inderdaad zo is dan is dat de eerste keer dat er een rootkit voor IOS uitkomt.

Overigens zal Muniz de code waarschijnlijk helemaal niet publiekelijk maken maar is zijn bedoeling het ter discussie te stellen.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1100

Bron: activewin.com

Op zijn blog beschrijft Dmitry hoe je toch PowerShell op een Windows 2008 Server Core installatie in gebruik zou kunnen nemen. Let wel dat dit in het geheel niet door Microsoft wordt ondersteund.

Below is a step-by-step instruction on installing Windows PowerShell on Windows Server 2008 in Server Core mode.

Note that these are in no way official or supported by Microsoft. Microsoft is working on official version of .NET and PowerShell for Server Core installations, so eventually you will be able to get this fully supported. Until then below are the instructions you can use at your own risk, etc., etc.

http://dmitrysotnikov.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/powershell-on-server-core/

Bron: activewin.com

Jose Barreto beschrijft in dit blog het nieuwe tool in Windows Server 2008 genaamd Storage Explorer.

Storage Explorer is a new tool in Windows Server 2008 to help you understand how your server SAN storage is configured.

It provides information about the storage fabrics (Fibre Channel and iSCSI) and also about the configuration of each server.

This new tool can greatly help you understand your server configuration as it relates to SAN storage. It is also a useful troubleshooting tool.

http://blogs.technet.com/josebda/archive/2008/05/08/the-basics-of-windows-server-2008-storage-explorer.aspx

Bron: windowsnetworking.com

David Davis beschrijft welke netwerk functies zijn verdwenen in Windows Server 2008 en wat je kunt gebruiken om het gemis op te vangen.

A number of common Windows Server networking features were removed with Windows Server 2008. In this article, we will discuss what is removed and what new networking features you should be using instead.

If you are a long-time Windows Server user, you may boot up Windows Server 2008, look for a common networking feature or protocol, and find that it no longer exists in this version of Windows Server. So what are the Windows Server Networking services & protocols that have been removed? And what should you be using instead? Let’s find out!

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Windows-Server-2008-Networking-Services.html

Bron: activewin.com

Mike beschrijft op zijn blog hoe je in bulk WMI filters voor group policies kunt im- of exporteren met de GPMC.

http://blogs.technet.com/askds/archive/2008/05/16/bulk-exporting-and-importing-wmi-filters-for-group-policy.aspx

Bron: bink.nu

Op het blog van het Windows Server team, ASKPERF, wordt beschreven hoe je met het tool RELOG.EXE een nieuw log kunt bouwen aan de hand van bestaande performance log data. Het tool kan de sample rate omzetten of het bestandsformaat converteren.

Het tool is niet nieuw maar wel bijzonder onbekend.

http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2008/05/20/two-minute-drill-relog-exe.aspx

Bron: bink.nu

Microsoft heeft een tweede release candidate van Hyper-V uitgebracht. RC1 is nu te downloaden vanaf het download center.

Overview

The Release Candidate 1 (RC1) update to the Hyper-V role provides improvements to security, stability, performance, user experience, forward compatibility of configurations, and the programming model. All users of the Hyper-V role are encouraged to apply this upgrade. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer. Once you have installed this item, it cannot be removed. This update is provided to you and licensed under the Windows Server 2008 License Terms.

·         Download voor Vista 32-bit: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d0284cee-0e79-4453-895a-11aa8cfe6e6a&DisplayLang=en

·         Download voor Vista 64-bit: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c420d8a3-f0a7-415a-b748-3726d66bf0c3&DisplayLang=en

·         Download voor Server 2008 x64 version: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7edaa89f-9f64-488d-93c0-858d2d8799df&DisplayLang=en

http://bink.nu/news/hyper-v-rc1-release-available-on-microsoft-download-center.aspx

Bron: xobni.com

Deze tool brengt een heleboel mogelijkheden naar Outlook. Denk aan een snelle zoekfunctie of threaded conversaties.

http://www.xobni.com/learnmore/

Download: http://www.xobni.com/download/666B662A60656569616A44686B636D67652A676B69/766B66666176702A72656A2A6061762A7E73656A44686B636D67652A676B69/32

Bron: blogs.zdnet.com

Cisco heeft vorige week een drietal security bulletins uitgebracht. Het betreft de Voice Portal en de SSH implementatie in IOS.

Met name de Voice Portal fix krijgt een hoge score, die wordt zeer ernstig ingeschat.

Voice portal: http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/707/cisco-sa-20080521-cvp.shtml

SSH: http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/707/cisco-sa-20080521-ssh.shtm & http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/707/cisco-sa-20080521-sce.shtml

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1163

Bron: netapp mailing

Ooit schema’s of designs moeten maken met NetApp apparatuur erin? Nu biedt NetApp Visio stencils voor dit werk.

http://www.visiocafe.com/netapp.htm

Bron: netapp.com

Robert Quimby heeft een artikel geschreven over hoe je het beste kunt omgaan met Exchange 2007 replicatie als je op NetApp storage werkt.

About a year ago, I wrote an article that appeared here in Tech OnTap discussing, among other things, the new replication capabilities in Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007. The recent release of Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) not only provides bug fixes and enhancements to the capabilities I described, it also includes substantial new functionality, and it affects the way you should design the architecture of your NetApp® storage for Exchange. This article is an overview of the changes that have the greatest impact on storage and a reexamination of best practices for designing Exchange storage. For details on these topics, see my recent technical report, “Microsoft Exchange 2007 SP1 Continuous Replication Best Practices Guide .”

http://www.netapp.com/us/communities/tech-ontap/Exchange2007-0508.html

Bron: Microsoft.com

Overview

A new utility that writes Windows PowerShell scripts that harness the power of WMI (Windows Instrumentation Management) for use in system management and administration. This tool was created by Microsoft consultant and author Ed Wilson.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=D87DAF50-E487-4B0B-995C-F36A2855016E&displaylang=en

Bron: Microsoft.com

Microsoft heeft nu ook een 64-bits versie van LoadGen, het stress test tool voor Exchange.

Overview

Use Microsoft Exchange Load Generator (LoadGen) as a simulation tool to measure the impact of MAPI, OWA, IMAP, POP and SMTP clients on Exchange servers. LoadGen allows you to test how a server running Exchange responds to e-mail loads. To simulate the delivery of these messaging requests, you run LoadGen tests on client computers. These tests send multiple messaging requests to the Exchange server, thereby causing a mail load. LoadGen is a useful tool for administrators who are sizing servers and validating a deployment plan. Specifically, LoadGen helps you determine if each of your servers can handle the load to which they are intended to carry. Another use for LoadGen is to help validate the overall solution.

Important! LoadGen should be used only in laboratories that have no connection to the production environment. This tool should not be used in any way in a production environment or an environment that is mission critical or contains important information of any kind anywhere in the network.

Note: The XML configuration file schema in this release has changed from previous versions. You will need to create a new XML configuration file with the Load Generator UI. The existing topology will be marked as un-editable if there are users created by previous versions of Microsoft Exchange Load Generator. Add your remote client machines again, and then save the updated configuration XML.

Note: If you use the recipient management features of this release to create users or other recipient objects and you have one or more Exchange Server 2007 servers in your test topology, you must run the Load Generator application with user credentials that have permission to manage Exchange recipients. The directory access account specified in the application configuration will not be used for this purpose.

Note: This version includes scripted module functionality which enables load generation for OWA, IMAP, POP, SMTP.

Note: There have been reports of errors when trying to install Loadgen. The errors will show in the event viewer message as "Action START_REMOTE_SERVICE". The KB article below will help you resolve this issue.
Exchange 2007 managed code services do not start after you install an update rollup for Exchange 2007: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944752/

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0FDB6F14-1E42-4165-BB17-96C83916C3EC&displaylang=en

Bron: Microsoft.com

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032347554&EventCategory=3&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Bron: patch management mailinglist

http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2008/05/23/dst-upcoming-changes-for-morocco-and-pakistan.aspx  

On June 1, 2008 there will be two new Daylight Saving Time changes that

go into effect. Pakistan and Morocco plan to introduce Daylight Saving

time. The governments of the two nations recently announced the change

as part of their energy savings plans. Although the changes go into

effect on the same day in both countries, please note that they will

have different end dates, as outlined below:

*Pakistan*: DST begins on June 1st. The clocks will move forward from

12:00:59 AM to 1:01:00 AM. The UTC Offset will change from +5 hours to

+6 hours for Pakistan. DST will end at 12:00:59 AM on Sunday, August 31.

At this time, the clocks will roll back to 11:01:00 PM on /Saturday,

August 30/. The UTC Offset will change from +6 hours to +5 hours for

Pakistan.

*Morocco*: DST will begin on Saturday, May 31 at 11:59:59 PM when the

clocks will move forward to 1:00:00 AM on Sunday, June 1. This will

result in the UTC Offset for Morocco changing from 0 to +1 hour. DST in

Morocco ends on Saturday, September 27, at 11:59:59 PM. At this time,

the clocks will roll back to 11:00:00 PM on Saturday, September 27, and

the UTC offset will change from +1 hour to 0.

 From Microsoft’s perspective, due to the short notice provided for

these changes, Windows will not be creating one-off hotfix packages to

accommodate the changes. The plan is to include these updates in the

next Windows DST cumulative package, which is scheduled for release

later in the summer. To provide a more immediate solution, we will be

updating Microsoft KB Article 914387

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914387/en-us with the changes for

Morocco and Pakistan. The changes for this article should be in place by

the end of this week. Additional information will also be available on

the Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst.

Bron: Microsoft.com

Microsoft heeft een tool uitgebracht waarmee alle speeldagen van het EK dit jaar in Outlook terechtkomen.

U hoeft de tool slechts te downloaden en te starten. Een paar tellen later zijn alle speeldagen aan Outlook toegevoegd en ziet u precies welke elftallen waar en wanneer tegen elkaar uitkomen.

http://www.microsoft.com/netherlands/ondernemers/downloads/EKtool.aspx

Bron: patch management mailinglist

Men herinnert ons er nog even aan dat de SP2 blocker voor Windows 2003 binnenkort niet meer gaat werken. Het wordt ook de hoogste tijd om na te denken om SP2 te implementeren. Het service pack is tenslotte al een jaar oud.

http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/archive/2008/05/27/windows-server-2003-sp2-blocker-tool-to-be-removed-from-windows-update-and-automatic-update.aspx

Just a reminder - It has been a little over a year since we released

Windows Server 2003 SP2

http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/archive/2007/03/13/sp2-goes-live.aspx.

When we release a Service Pack at Microsoft, we want to make sure that

IT professionals and system administrators have ample time to assess the

service pack and choose when to deploy it.

As with other service packs, we offered support for Windows Server 2003

SP2 within the  Windows Service Pack Blocker Toolkit

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=d7c9a07a-5267-4bd6-87d0-e2a72099edb7&displaylang=en&tm.

This allowed administrators to block the automatic deployment of Windows

Server 2003 SP2 for a period of one year.

Now that time has expired, organizations should be aware that over the

next month, support for Windows Server 2003 SP2 within the blocker tool

will be phased out Windows Server 2003 SP2 will then be automatically

offered, downloaded and/or installed (depending on user or administrator

settings) through standard mechanisms including Windows Update and

Automatic Update.

Ward Ralston

P.S. and don't forget the post sp2 fix that kills off advanced networing

TOE/RSS crud.

The Official SBS Blog : KB 948496 and KB 936594:

http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2008/03/12/kb-948496-and-kb-936594.aspx

Bron: windowsvistablog.com

Microsoft heeft de opvolger van Windows Desktop Search uitgebracht. Deze nieuwe Windows Search is ook een upgrade voor de ingebouwde search functionaliteit van Vista en Server 2008.

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsexperience/archive/2008/06/03/windows-search-4-0-released-to-web.aspx

Download for XP: http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/info.aspx?na=22&p=3&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d55c18cb3-c916-4298-aba3-5b98904f7cda%26DisplayLang%3den

Download for Vista: http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/info.aspx?na=22&p=4&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3dbc28ed7f-c51b-49cd-b505-95b91b453284%26DisplayLang%3den

Description of Windows Search 4.0 and the Multilingual User Interface Pack for Windows Search 4.0

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940157

Windows Search 4.0 Administrator's Guide

http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/f98696ed-6e3e-47b7-ab38-511439bce7ae1033.mspx?mfr=true

Bron: Microsoft.com

Overview

The Microsoft® Windows® Installer (MSI) is the application installation and configuration service for Windows. Version 4.5 of the Windows Installer has several new features, including:

Multiple Package Transaction: In a multiple package transaction, you can create a single transaction from multiple packages. In a multiple package transaction, a chainer is used to dynamically include packages in the transaction. If any of the packages do not install as expected, you can roll back the installation.

Embedded UI Handler: You can embed a custom user interface (UI) handler in the Windows Installer package. This makes a custom UI easier to integrate. You can also invoke an embedded UI handler from the Add or Remove item in Control Panel. Or, you can invoke an embedded UI handler during a Windows Installer repair process.

Embedded Chainer: You can use the embedded chainer to add packages to a multiple package transaction. You can use an embedded chainer to enable installation events across multiple packages. For example, you can enable the install-on-demand events, the repair events, and the uninstall events across multiple packages.

Update Supersedence Resiliency: This feature enables you to correct for changes in the FeatureComponent table during supersedence.

Shared Component Patching Resiliency During Uninstall: This feature makes sure that the most recent version of a component is available to all the products.

Custom Action Execution On Update Uninstall: This feature enables an update to add or change a custom action so that the custom action is called when an update is uninstalled.

After installation of this package, the version of Windows Installer on the system will be upgraded to 4.5.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5a58b56f-60b6-4412-95b9-54d056d6f9f4&DisplayLang=en

Bron: bink.nu

Overview

Use the Error Code Lookup tool to determine error values from decimal and hexadecimal error codes in Microsoft Windows® operating systems. The tool can look up one or more values at a time. All values on the command line will be looked up in Exchange’s internal tables and presented to you. If available, informational data associated with the value or values will also be shown.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=be596899-7bb8-4208-b7fc-09e02a13696c&displaylang=en&tm

Bron: activewin.com

Overview

The Microsoft VHD format is the common virtualization file format for Virtual PC, Virtual Server 2005 and Hyper-V that provides a uniform product support system, and provides more seamless manageability, security, reliability and cost-efficiency for customers.

This VHD release is available in English only.

This installation requires Hyper-V so you will need to have a base install of Windows Server 2008, running Hyper-V. For more information on obtaining and installing the latest version of Hyper-V, please visit the Hyper-V Homepage.

Both virtual machines available via the download are running Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition. One is the default full installation, and the other has been configured as a default Core installation. For more information on the images and options for download please see the IMAGE SELECTION section in the instructions below.

As both virtual machines do not have anti-virus installed, they should not be connected to any network until it has anti-virus installed.In addition, the operating system and programs installed were patched with all updates as of May 8, 2008.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=060f0c51-339a-4c4e-bb6e-716bb7401fd4&DisplayLang=en

Bron: activewin.com

Brian McCann vertelt wat hij allemaal doet om de Active Directory Domain Controllers op ‘gezondheid’ te controleren.

http://www.adminprep.com/articles/default.asp?action=show&articleid=101

Dcdiag.exe /v >> c:\temp\pre_dcdiag.txt
This is a must and will always tell you if there is trouble with your DCs and/or services associated with it

Netdiag.exe /v >> c:\temp\pre_Netdiag.txt
This will let me know if there are issues with the networking components on the DC. This along with the post test also is a quick easy way to ensure the patch I just installed is really installed (just check the top of the log)

Netsh dhcp show server >> c:\temp\pre_dhcp.txt
Some may not do this but I've felt the pain of a DHCP server somehow not being authorized after a patch. This allows me verify the server count and names.

Repadmin /showreps >> c:\temp\pre_rep_partners.txt
This shows all my replication and if it was successful or not. Just be aware that Global Catalogs will have more info here than a normal domain controller.

repadmin /replsum /errorsonly >> c:\temp\pre_repadmin_err.txt
This is the one that always takes forever but will let you know who you are having issues replicating with.

Bron: activewin.com

Overview

The Microsoft Security Assessment Tool 3.5 is the revised version of the original Microsoft Security Risk Self-Assessment Tool (MSRSAT), released in 2004 and the Microsoft Security Assessment Tool 2.0 released in 2006. Security issues have evolved since 2004 so additional questions and answers were needed to ensure you had a comprehensive toolset to become more aware of the evolving security threat landscape that could impact your organization.

The tool employs a holistic approach to measuring your security posture by covering topics across people, process, and technology. Findings are coupled with prescriptive guidance and recommended mitigation efforts, including links to more information for additional industry guidance. These resources may assist you in keeping you aware of specific tools and methods that can help change the security posture of your IT environment.

There are three assessments that define the Microsoft Security Assessment Tool:

·         Business Risk Profile Assessment